Creating an impressive custom photo card takes more than just slapping a few pictures onto a template, and sending them of to a professional printing lab. In fact, to create the best photo books and cards, or a quality picture album, you have to have a basic idea of how to take a great picture.

This means that you should know how your camera works, and how to expertly take a high resolution shot.

But if you are still rusty with your camera, here are a few tips that will help.

• Practice Makes Perfect. Don’t think that you can pick up your camera once a year and take amazing photos (unless you are some photo-taking genius). Becoming adept at composition, shading, perspective, and zoom takes practice. You have to be taking pictures every day in order to learn the ins and outs of photography.
• Step Into the Light. Before you start clicking, take a look at your photo op through the camera lens carefully. Is there a glare? Are the lights favorable? Do you need to change positions? The right lighting can help to highlight your photo’s subject, and also add in the perfect ambiance for the picture. Depending on what you are trying to achieve — a brooding office scene, or a sunny field — your lighting should be different.
• Keep On Clicking. Have you ever noticed that when a professional photographer is putting together a wedding picture album for a couple, he or she just keeps clicking every few seconds? You may wonder how these professionals get such incredible pictures. This is partly due to their expertise, but also to their focus on capturing every moment possible. In this digital camera age, you can always go back to your pictures and either erase or edit them accordingly. First focus on taking as many shots as you can of your subject. You can review all of them later, and select the best ones.

So before you jump into making a custom photo card, try to improve your photography skills using these tips. It will make for a better card, and likely get you jazzed about how well your pictures have turned out. For more about this, go here: www.blackriverimaging.com